Tennessee: Governor Bill Lee rejects clemency for Christa Pike, execution confirmed

The woman killed a classmate with the complicity of her then 17-year-old boyfriend. After her conviction, sexual and physical abuse in her past came to light and she was diagnosed with mental health problems. But governor Bill Lee rejected all appeals from human rights groups, confirming the execution scheduled for September 30

Over 200 years after the last precedent, Tennessee is today preparing to carry out a death sentence on a woman. Governor Bill Lee in fact rejected Christa Pike's request for clemency, guilty with the complicity of her then 17-year-old boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and another friend of the murder Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old classmate at the Knoxville Job Corps, a center that provided vocational training to young people from families in difficulty. Pike, an adult, was sentenced to death a year later, while Shipp was protected by the law against capital punishment and was sentenced to life in prison.

The case

The case caused great uproar due to the manner of the murder. Slammer was tortured and killed with a sharp weapon, a satanic symbol was engraved on her body. The tragedy led to the closure of the training school, and Pike became the youngest woman to end up on death row in U.S. history. "I relive this execution every day in my heart," the condemned woman said in an unreleased audio recording released by her lawyers to the New York Times. “Whatever happens on September 30, this will no longer be my hell.”

The abuse Pike suffered

After the conviction, harsh details emerged about Pike's past, a victim of sexual abuse and suffering from mental health problems. In the years that followed, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress syndrome. Nonetheless, Governor Lee's decision was adamant: "After careful consideration of Christa Gail Pike's clemency request and a thorough review of the case, I affirm the ruling of the State of Tennessee and do not intend to intervene," the governor said in a statement despite pressure from human rights groups, with Amnesty International having launched a petition to try to obtain a last-minute pardon.

The appeals of human rights organizations

Some experts question whether Pike would be sentenced to death if tried today, given that the neglect and sexual and physical abuse she suffered during childhood were not presented at trial. “A lot of things have changed,” Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told the Times. In early September, UN experts called on US and Tennessee authorities to "immediately" suspend Pike's execution and commute his sentence, highlighting the abuse he suffered in childhood and the physical and psychological suffering he endured on death row.